Background
The reflection phase affords lecturers the opportunity to establish whether the module, and their teaching, achieved its stated objectives and outcomes. Now that we have had to move our teaching online and off-campus, it is more important than ever before to maintain contact with our students and obtain their feedback on how they are progressing with their learning. Teaching face to face in class, it is usually possible to gauge students’ faces and nonverbal expressions when we explain or ask something. In the online space, however, we need to employ other techniques to determine how well students are learning, and how well we are teaching. This reflection can occur by gathering data and/or obtaining feedback through the lecturer feedback form, peer observations and formal or informal student feedback using classroom assessment techniques (CATs). This information can then be used to inform the curriculum context for the next round of teaching, learning and assessment.
The teaching portfolio can be delivered in a number of formats
The Format And Content Of The Teaching Portfolio: Suggestions
Examples may include the following:
- A printable document (typically a Microsoft Word or PDF Document),
- A written, hard copy document,
- A private (password protected) or openly-accessible online blog,
- Part of your employee profile on our institution’s HR or learning management system (in the case of Stellenbosch University, the SunLearn LMS’s e-portfolio function would be an option),
- On public, online platforms, specifically created for professional portfolios. All these formats pose a number of benefits and challenges, depending on your professional needs and personal preferences. In terms of the content of the portfolio, there are no strict rules, but a number of guidelines could help you to structure the process.
More suggestions
The Format And Content Of The Teaching Portfolio: Suggestions
Examples of Online Platforms for Portfolio Development include:
- Portfoliogen
- Wix
- Google Sites
- SUNLearn: Mahara (integrated with SUNLearn): When you log into SUNLearn, go to your Dashboard (or any module you are enrolled in) > in the panel on the left, scroll down to ‘Network Servers’ > Click on ‘Home – Eportfolio’. For more help on creating a portfolio here, please contact your faculty blended learning coordinator at the Centre for Learning Technologies.
- Weebly
Guidelines on the type of Content in a Teaching Portfolio
- Your own Teaching Philosophy
- Context (your students’ needs and contexts, the context of teaching and learning in your particular academic discipline, programme and field – internationally and nationally, the social context of your students, our institution, and the national contexts, including the Higher Education landscape)
- Scholarly Approach (evidence of engagement with the scholarship of teaching and learning)
- Personal/Professional Objectives, Possible Areas for Improvement
- Evidence of Innovative Teaching Approaches and innovative teaching and learning activities
- Testimonials or Feedback from Students
- Peer feedback from colleagues, advisors and managers.
Practical Suggestions on Structure and Content
Consider your audience: You may need to adapt the portfolio slightly if you are submitting it for a teaching award, for departmental review or to share with peers. In these cases, you may want to adapt your material to specific templates or criteria. Your faculty Teaching & Learning Advisor will be able to advise you, accordingly.
Usability and Navigation: A portfolio should be well-structured and easy to navigate. This will not only benefit the reader, but will also enable you to easily update the document over the longer term.
Use of Visual Media: Screenshots, imagery, videos, online links, and well-designed layout could (where relevant) help you to better communicate your teaching approach. If you need assistance, please contact your faculty’s Blended Learning Coordinator.
The underlying Purpose of a Portfolio: Developing and maintaining the portfolio should become part of your reflective practice, to celebrate and enhance your journey of personal and professional growth. It is not merely a tool for showcasing your achievements, but rather a platform for finding your authentic voice as a teaching practitioner.
Dr Taryn Bernard
- A Winner of SU Teaching Excellence Award for Distinguished Teacher 2019
- Extended Degree Programme, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
- Stellenbosch University.
Got to this website to listen to Dr Taryn Bernard’s introduction to critical reflection and portfolio-writing.
Prof Geo Quinot
- Winner of Heltasa National Excellence Teaching Awards 2012
- Department of Public Law
- Faculty of Law Stellenbosch University
“In my view good teaching is premised on a solid theoretical paradigm for the teaching practice at issue. I have thus developed such a theoretical paradigm, which I call ‘Transformative Legal Education’, to not only guide my own teaching practices, but that, in my view, should inform the teaching of law at South African universities today.”
Marianne MacKay
- Winner of Heltasa National Excellence Teaching Awards 2015
- Department of Viticulture and Oenology Stellenbosch University
- Faculty of AgriSciences
“Vines that struggle a little produce the best wine. Grapevines are unlike other crops where sun, water and fertiliser are maximised to give the highest possible yield of nondescript product. The goal of wine producers is to grow fruit that best expresses its terroir, and to do that, the vine needs to work hard to overcome the harshness of the environment, and make the best use of limited nutrients and water. During this process, flavour is developed and concentrated, which translates to wonderful wine. So it is with learners (if I may be forgiven for the analogy). A student who is pushed out of their comfort zone to engage fully with a concept, who has to adapt and restructure their thinking and behaviour, will distil the essence of their learning in a different way, and will be shaped by the experience.
“A carefully devised curriculum that challenges students should produce a ‘good blend’ of attributes in wellrounded individuals who have unique knowledge structures, excellent abilities to confront and solve problems, and empathy for the struggles and challenges others around them face.”
Dr Elize Archer
- Head of the Simulation and Clinical Skills Unit at the Centre for Health Professions Education (CHPE)
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS)
- Winner of Stellenbosch University’s Teaching Excellence Award in the category “Developing Teacher”, December 2018
“I am very grateful for the recognition, as there are many other good teachers at Stellenbosch University,” Archer said in reaction to her award.
“Putting together my portfolio as part of my award application took a lot of effort. In order to show that you’re a good teacher, you need to provide evidence – so, I am extra happy that the hard work paid off! Receiving such recognition really motivates one to do more and better. I hope it will encourage other lecturers to apply in the future.
“What I really like about teaching is to see how students grow and develop during their study years. You really get to know the person behind the student.
“I am very fortunate to work for an institution that rewards and acknowledges good teaching,” says Archer.
Dr Eric Decloedt
- Coordinator of Clinical Pharmacology Teaching in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS)
- Winner of Stellenbosch University’s Teaching Excellence Award in the category “Developing Teacher”, December 2018
“It is a great honour to be recognised for my passion for teaching,” Decloedt said in reaction to his award.
“This award acknowledges teaching as an important part of being an academic scholar and encourages teaching excellence. It also recognises the importance and value of clinical pharmacology in the MB,ChB curriculum.”
It is not the first time that Decloedt has been recognised for his outstanding teaching skills. In 2016, he was named “Educator of the Year” by the South African Society for Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (SASBCP) in recognition of his contributions to excellence, expertise and demonstrable achievement in pharmacology education.
Decloedt, who has been teaching clinical pharmacology to undergraduates and registrars training in clinical pharmacology since 2012, says one of his biggest challenges was to make pharmacology (which was traditionally taught as a fact-heavy subject) clinically relevant to students working in the South African context, and to maintain engagement with students despite increasingly large classes.
“My primary teaching goal is to foster the essential skill among medical graduates to rationally prescribe medicine. I feel strongly that SU medical graduates should be equipped to work in any healthcare facility in South Africa.”
Decloedt loves the interaction with students, including their sharp-witted responses in more light-hearted moments. “Students bring such a tapestry of experience and knowledge into the classroom, and I constantly learn from them.”
He encourages other lecturers to make use of the excellent resources provided by SU’s Centre for Teaching and Learning: “Many of my initiatives were inspired by learning from others. Be prepared to learn by trial and error based on the critique from students and peers. Students care about how much you care, not about how much you know. Don’t forget, you once were an undergraduate student too – in fact, we all are students on our life journey.”
Questions To Prompt Reflection
Try to answer these questions in conversation with a colleague or by writing down your responses on your own:
1. Describe the best learning experience you have had as a student.
Maybe also think of your worst. This helps to identify how we best learn and reminds us as instructors what it is like to be a student. Maryellen Weimer (2013) recently discussed this in the context of influencing the learning environment.
2. Describe the best teaching experience you have had as a lecturer.
And the worst? Are there any similarities to the learning experience you described above? This question attempts to link your learning to your teaching.
3. What are you trying to achieve in your students with your teaching?
This is a big question and may be best initially answered by thinking about it in the context of what you feel is the course you teach with the most success. Context is a very broad concept – start with YOUR students’ needs and contexts, and YOUR discipline. You can then expand to academic contexts in the academic field, the institutional context, and beyond: the social, national and international contexts. It is strongly recommended that you read up on micro/meso/macro contexts of higher education.
4. Why is this important to you?
This consideration helps in articulating your approach to your students in the context of the teaching discipline. Your approach may be broader than the discipline itself and may link to the personal growth of students and not only their intellectual growth.
5. How do you achieve the objectives you wrote down for question #3 above?
That is, what teaching strategies or approaches do you use in your classes that produce the learning environment or opportunities for your students to reach your teaching objectives? Hopefully, this has been informed by your answers in questions #1 & 2 above. If there is no apparent connection between this question and your answers to #1 & 2, then this might be cause to pause and reflect why this is.
6. Why do you use these particular teaching strategies as opposed to others that are available to you?
Have your strategies developed over time through courses attended, articles read, trial and error, student feedback? Why? This is where you start developing the argument or citing the evidence for the value or success of your approach to teaching. Hopefully, you are able to make links to your own learning and teaching philosophy.
In short, the following questions can guide your reflection:
- My best (and worst) learning experience as a student was…
- My best (and worst) teaching experience as a lecturer is/was…
- Through teaching, I try to achieve the following in my students …
- This is important to me because…
- My objectives (#3) are achieved by…
- I use these strategies rather than others because…
These questions help to develop our teaching philosophies. They can be strengthened with regular revision and by grounding them in questions of philosophy (Beatty et al 2009). Considering our teaching philosophies in the context of our own and our students’ learning philosophies has the potential to help us, as lecturers, aid our students’ development from dependent to independent learners.
My learning philosophy is …………………………………. thus …….
How does your learning and teaching philosophy manifest in the teaching strategies that you have chosen to use in your classes?
Guidelines To Developing A Teaching Portfolio: Links
- Interview with Prof Nuraan Davids, HELTASA Teaching excellence awards 2017 commendee, on teaching excellence and developing a teaching portfolio.
- CHERTL (Rhodes University) A Brief Guide to the Development of a Teaching Portfolio.
- Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching, UCT. PowerPoint on Teaching Portfolio, Dr. N. Palitt.
- A Guide to Constructing your Western Teaching Dossier. Western Teaching Support Centre. https://teaching.uwo.ca/awardsdossiers/teachingdossiers.html
- Guidelines for Developing an Academic Portfolio. Institute for Interactive Media and Learning, University of Technology, Sydney. https://www.uts.edu.au/research-and-teaching/learning-and-teaching/scholarship-and-research/scholarship-learning-and-teaching/developing-academic-portfolio
- Introduction to Academic Portfolios. Danielle Mihram, Director, Centre for Excellence in Teaching, University of Southern California. (PowerPoint) http://slideplayer.com/slide/5975930/
- Teaching Portfolios. Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University. https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/teaching-portfolios/ Teaching Portfolios.
- The Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University. https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/resources/teachingportfolios/index.html
- Writing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement. University Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Ohio State University. https://drakeinstitute.osu.edu/instructor-support/teaching-portfolio-development/philosophy-teaching-statement
- Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement. Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, Iowa State University. http://www.celt.iastate.edu/faculty/document-your-teaching/writing-a-teaching-philosophy-statement
- Writing your Teaching Philosophy. Allison Boye, Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Centre, Texas Tech University. https://www.depts.ttu.edu/tlpdc/Resources/Teaching_resources/TLPDC_teaching_resources/Documents/WritingYourTeachingPhilosophywhitepaper.pdf
Seminal Scholarly Articles & Books on Teaching Portfolios
References
- Beatty, J.E., Leigh, J.S.A., Dean, K.L. 2009. Philosophy Rediscovered. Exploring the Connections Between Teaching Philosophies, Educational Philosophies, and Philosophy. Journal of Management Education Volume 33 Number 1 p 99-114. Available: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1052562907310557 . [18 June 2016].
- Benade, L. 2015. Teachers’ critical reflective practice in the context of twenty-first-century learning. Open Review of Educational Research, 2(1): 42-54.
- Boyer, E.L. 1990. Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Princeton, New Jersey: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
- Brookfield, S. (summarised). 2010. Brookfield’s four lenses: Becoming a critically reflective teacher. Sydney: Faculty of Arts Teaching and Learning Network, University of Sydney. Available: https://valenciacollege.edu/faculty/development/courses-resources/documents/brookfield_summary.pdf. [18 June 2016].
- Buckridge, M. 2008. Teaching portfolios: Their role in teaching and learning policy. International Journal for Academic Development, 13(2): 117-127.
- Chalmers, D. & Hunt, L. 2016. Evaluation of teaching. HERDSA Review of Higher Education, 3, 25-55. Available: www.herdsa.org.au/herdsa-review-higher-education-vol-3/25-55 . [18 June 2016].
- De Rijdt, C., Tiquet, E., Dochy, F. & Devolder, M. 2006. Teaching portfolios in higher education and their effects: An explorative study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22: 1084–1093.
- Hegarty, B. 2011. Is reflective writing an enigma? Can preparing evidence for an electronic portfolio develop skills for reflective practice? Conference proceedings, ascilite 2011, Tasmania.
- Kane, R., Sandretto, S. & Heath, C. 2004. An investigation into excellent tertiary teaching: Emphasising reflective practice. Higher Education, 47: 283-310.
- Kreber, C. & Cranton, P.A. 2000. Exploring the scholarship of teaching. Journal of Higher Education, 71(4): 476–495.
- Lupton, M. 2013. Reclaiming the art of teaching. Teaching in Higher Education, 18(2): 156-166.
- McLean, M. & Bullard, J.E. 2000. Becoming a university teacher: evidence from teaching portfolios (how academics learn to teach). Teacher Development, 4(1): 79-101.
- Pitts, W. & Ruggirello, R. 2012. Using the e-Portfolio to Document and Evaluate Growth in Reflective Practice: The Development and Application of a Conceptual Framework. International Journal of ePortfolio, 2(1): 49-74.
- Quinlan, K.M. 2018. From pedagogic innovation to publication: resituating your pedagogic research. Unpublished chapter. 1-11.
- Rodriguez-Farrar, H.B. 2006. The Teaching Portfolio: A Handbook for Faculty, Teaching Assistants and Teaching Fellows. Rhode Island: The Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, Brown University.
- Schön, D. 1987. Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
- Schönwetter , D.J., Sokal , L., Friesen, M. & Taylor, K.L. 2002. Teaching philosophies reconsidered: A conceptual model for the development and evaluation of teaching philosophy statements. International Journal for Academic Development, 7(1): 83-97.
- Shulman, L.S. 1988. A Union of Insufficiencies: Strategies for Teacher Assessment in a Period of Reform. Educational Leadership 46(3):36-41.
- Shulman, L.S. 1993. Forum: Teaching as community property. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 25(6):6-7.
- Tigelaar, D.E.H., Dolmans, D.H.J.M., De Grave, W.S., Wolfhagen, I.H.A.P. & Van der Vleuten, C.P.M. 2006. Portfolio as a tool to stimulate teachers’ reflections. Medical Teacher, 28(3): 277–282.
- Trevitt, C. & Stocks, C. 2012. Signifying authenticity in academic practice: A framework for better understanding and harnessing portfolio assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 37(2): 245-257.
- Trevitt, C., Macduff, A. & Steed, A. 2014. [e]portfolios for learning and as evidence of achievement: Scoping the academic practice development agenda ahead. Internet and Higher Education, 20: 69-78.
- Weimer, M. 2013. Two Activities that Influence the Climate for Learning. In, The Teaching Professor. Madison: Magna Publications Inc. Available: https://www.teachingprofessor.com/topics/for-those-who-teach/two-activities-that-influence-the-climate-for-learning/ . [18 June 2016].
- Winberg, C. & Pallitt, N. 2016. “I am trying to practice good teaching”: Reconceptualizing eportfolios for professional development in vocational higher education. British Journal of Educational Technology. British Educational Research Association.
Frequently Asked Questions
A teaching portfolio is the “story” of you as a teaching professional and of your teaching practice. It consists of two main divisions: a) a reflective narrative about your teaching, your students’ learning and your professional learning, and b) appendices with exemplars to substantiate your narrative.
- A teaching portfolio is first and foremost a reflection tool to enhance your teaching practice. To create a portfolio, you have to think back about what you have done and try to change or correct past actions for your teaching in the present and the future. You therefore have to analyse and interpret your teaching experiences, thinking critically about all aspects of your teaching and how you could enhance your teaching practice.
- Your portfolio shows how you see the relation between teaching and learning with regard to your teaching practice. It also shows the development of your teaching over time. Creating a portfolio is thus an effective way to learn about yourself as a teaching professional.
- You will need a teaching portfolio to:
– apply for promotion;
– apply for a University or national teaching award; or
– complete your annual performance appraisal.
Your portfolio should include three major areas of academic work:
- Your teaching and educational development;
- Your scholarship and professional learning; and
- Your contributions to the university and the community.
You should include some evidence of your participation and reflection in each of these areas, although at any point in your academic career your work is likely to have a greater focus on some areas than on others.
Your portfolio should consist of the following elements, in the sequence given below:
1. An abbreviated CV that focuses on your teaching
2. A reflective narrative comprising:
2.1 Your teaching context;
2.2 Teaching philosophy statement;
2.3 Teaching methods, strategies and activities;
2.4 Curricula;
2.5 Assessment of student learning;
2.6 Contributions to the department, university and community; and
2.7 Professional learning.
3. Appendices containing supplemental materials that document or support the information you provide in your narrative, e.g. student feedback, student success rates, and peer evaluations (internal and external moderators, a colleague, etc.). You would also include representative examples of module frameworks, content, assessment and teaching activities.
The portfolio consists broadly of your reflective narrative and appendices as outlined under (3) above. The elements of the portfolios are put into the sequence mentioned above.
A teaching philosophy statement is a reflective narrative that forms the framework of your portfolio, its “golden thread”, as it were. It articulates your personal philosophy about teaching and your students’ learning and includes your teaching and learning beliefs, goals, values and practices.
There are three particularly important points to bear in mind:
- Your teaching philosophy statement should not “showcase” you as a perfect teacher. You need to show both your failures and successes, and especially how your failures lead to your successes. You therefore need to track your development as a teacher.
- Your philosophy should be linked to the literature about teaching in higher education.
- Your philosophy should refer to the other components of your portfolio.
A teaching philosophy statement should be approximately two pages long.
A helpful resource is Trinity College Dublin’s “Writing a teaching philosophy statement”.
Yes. You may include up to two letters of recommendation from students, peers, your departmental chair, external moderators, etc. in an appendix. Reference these letters in your narrative.
Generally speaking, a teaching portfolio should be no longer than 50 pages. Your narrative should be approximately 20 pages and your appendices approximately 30 pages.
You may include an abbreviated CV of approximately 2 pages that focuses on your teaching. The CV is placed at the beginning of the portfolio.
You may compile your portfolio in either a Word/pdf or an electronic format. If you are applying for an award or for promotion, you may need to bear specific requirements in mind.
More information about available electronic formats is available elsewhere in this portfolio resource.
Please contact the CTL advisor in your Faculty or email Dr Karin Cattell at kcattell@sun.ac.za .
Award-winning national teaching portfolios
Examples Of Teaching Portfolios
Examples of award-winning national teaching portfolios are available on the HELTASA (Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa) website. You can click here for the HELTASA website. See good examples below of SU winners’ portfolios.